Start Up India: Gyan from Vigyan Bhavan

Start Up India could prove truly transforming if it succeeds in providing a framework to foster the brightest minds among them, not just the middle classes.January 25, 2016, 13:11 IST

By ​Tanuj Kumar

A casual passer-by would have been all too easily fooled into thinking there was a beauty pageant of some sort at Vigyan Bhavan on Saturday, January 16.

But on staying awhile, she would have realised the queue of well-coiffed, sleekly dressed and divinely-scented ladies and gents were some of the finest minds in the country with oodles of infectious entrepreneurial spirit. Reader, I was outside that queue.

The main hall was packed out, standing-room only, with six other halls — carrying the event's live feed — brimful. It felt like a working man's rock concert, an entrepreneur's Jaipur Literary Festival. And 14 non-stop sessions were scheduled that were to conclude with Narendra Modi announcing the 'Startup Action Plan' in the evening.

If people weren't at the edge of their seats, they were either at lunch or in the loo. "We might switch to paperless money in the next four years!" suggested Sharad Sharma, ProductNation co-founder.

"India will leapfrog plastic into digital money faster than any other country," said Vijay Shekhar, Paytm founder. Big numbers were thrown around. Visions of how India could be the next tech giant were frequently entertained. But, to be sure, there was no Wi-Fi at Vigyan Bhavan.He set the ball rolling as he emphasised how the plan is a complete break from licence raj and the end of governmental interference to boost new businesses. Masayoshi Son, Soft-Bank founder, waxed lyrical about India's true potential that met with bouts of prolonged self-congratulatory applause from the audience.

There was a sense of excitement as Amitabh Kant, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion, took to the stage to moderate a session with 10 policymakers, perhaps the best session of the day purely in terms of theatricality and histrionics. If not for the interstitial answers of the panel, the hall would have drowned in Kant's adrenalin.

The answers were given by the policymakers but, undoubtedly, it was Amitabh's show. Like an army officer, he marched up and down the stage not so much as taking questions from the audience but ordering them to 'Shoot!'.

The weaponry metaphor could have ruffled feathers but the audience and the panel were jogging along, dancing to Kant's tune. Questions not adhering to his introductory brief were interrupted, cut short or crumpled and tossed aside like paper balls.

A common refrain was 'Wait for 6:00 pm!', followed by waves of laughter, referring to the session with the PM where the policies would be announced. Someone's question on India's water problems was met with a thunderous "This hall doesn't have the answer to all of India's problems!" And 6:00 pm did arrive with Modi announcing his radical plan, on which much ink has been spilt on these pages.

If someone were to devise a machine that would instantly convert decibel levels into economic growth or ease of doing business in a country, India would have come out tops by end of the session. The 'Action Plan' put forward by the prime minister is, indeed, laudable. A lot of inspirational stories were told, slogans and catchphrases trotted out, bold policies put forth and grand plans discussed.

But if these are to be saved from collapsing into sheer vacuity, implementation and execution are paramount. One can only wait to see how it manifests on the ground.

Masayoshi Son spoke of how he assessed Indian entrepreneurs before making an investment. He was taken by the zeal and sparkle in their eyes. 'Start Up India' would have worked if that sparkle also transfers to the eyes of Indians who are hampered by its crushing poverty.

If the euphoria and grandiose remarks at a plush hall in the heart of cosmopolitan New Delhi are to acquire any meaning, they must translate into opportunities for a third of world's poor who live in India.

Start Up India could prove truly transforming if it succeeds in providing a framework to foster the brightest minds among them, not just the middle classes. Looking beyond the veil of PR and rhetoric, it seems a pretty tall order. Sceptics would be waiting with bated breath to pronounce it mere fantasy and a failure. 'Start Up India' is a dream India must dream. Not because it can. But it can't afford not to.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.(Tanuj Kumar is a student at King's College London)